Study of the performance of the acidic Ionic Liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate ([BMIM]HSO4), as a catalyst for the esterification of a mix of fatty acids (mostly oleic acid) to the respective FAME’s, using methanol. Multiple reaction batches were designed varying several operational parameters: temperature, reaction time, oleic acid/methanol mole ratio and mass of catalyst, in order to optimise the reaction yield. The prediction of the reaction yield was done using two indirect methods:
- measuring the final product acidity value through volumetric titration,
- assessing the total FAME content of the biodiesel product by Gas Chromatography (GC-FID).
